It looks like winter has finally let go of us although a week ago we had
snow. But it didnít last long as the ground is warming up considerably. Lot
of folks getting out and doing predator hunting. Nate and a couple of my
other guys have been doing some night hunting for coyotes, foxes and such
using an electronic call and red lights. Our Prairie Dog hunting has been
slim to zilch the last few years. The California do gooders moved in a few
years back and pulled strings and got it pretty much outlawed except for a
couple of months a year. When all this happened the population exploded and
the Black Plague set in and killed a large portion of them off. They are
slowly coming back but it is going to take a while. The Coyote population is
expanding at a high rate. We have so many here that our Antelope calf
survival rate is right at 1%.

We didnít have much of a winter this year with maybe 3 feet of snow instead
of the normal 20 to 25 feet so I am not sure how the elk and deer heard are
doing. Our Monsoon season starts the 4th of July and goes thru Labor Day and
normally we get 3 to 4Ē of rain each afternoon, plenty enough to fill up all
the basins, tanks and water holes and help the grass grow. If it does as
normal we should have a good fall hunting season. By now everyone has found
out if they got drawn for Elk or not and should find out about deer within
another month. Unfortunately out west if you donít get drawn, you donít hunt
in most cases.

Back in the 60s and 70s we had several gun writers to look up to and try to
be like. But the 80s, 90s and into the new century the list of credible gun
writers that we can believe and have any respect for has dwindled to near
nothing. Off the top of my head I canít think of but one that I read every
month and that is John Taffin. The rest are more interested in feeding their
egos than anything else. This October all of us will get a chance to show
John our appreciation at a very special John Taffin Appreciation Dinner.Here
is the info on it I received earlier this week...

JOHN TAFFIN
APPRECIATION DINNER
The dinner is to be held in honor of John Taffin.
There will be friends and family attending along with appreciative members of
the
Gun and Shooting industry. Highlights of Johnís career, video of his hunt, books
and pictures (favorite guns??) will be featured. A limited number of tickets
will be
be available to members of his reading public. If you are interested please
contact Tony Kojis at the email below.
.
DATE: October 18th. 2014
WHERE: The Riverside Hotel, 2900 Chinden Blvd. Boise, Idaho 83714
ROOM INFORMATION:www.riversideboise.com208-343-1871
RECEPTION: 6:P.M. Meet and Greet with registration and No Host Bar.
DINNER: 7:00 P.M. Video and Speakers to follow.
COST: Limited number of tickets is available at $44 ea.
MENU: Sliced Beef Tenderloin or Potato Crusted Halibut (choice w/ticket)
DRAWING: Each ticket will have one entry for some special door prizes.

It is our hope we can
keep John up till 10 p.m.
Those who cannot attend are encouraged to write a brief note to John and
Send them to: John Taffin, C/O Tony Kojis, 6210 Edgewater Dr. Boise, Idaho
83709 or tkojis@msn.com

Here is a bit more info in an e-mail I got from Tony....

Gary, It's
getting time to start ticket sales. We will be holding the John Taffin
Appreciation Dinner on Oct. 18 here in Boise. The Riverside Hotel has
been gracious enough to let us have a banquet room for half price and there
will be two choices of entrees. We plan on a raffle entry with each $44
ticket for attendees over 21. So far looks like we should have 200-250 but
that can change after July issue of Guns magazine runs announcement of
the dinner. We will be using a third party, Ticketbud, for collecting out of
town participants. Simplifies credit card purchases.
I would like to advertise, with your permission, the giving away of the
donated Reeder Custom and it too should get some attention. We could include
description/picture in future ads/announcements in couple magazines and on
your along with other websites. Please refer to attached

for more info on dinner and any questions,
email or call Cactus or I.
Thanks again for your participation. John has been like a school boy since
we sprung it on him and he gets more excited every week we go shooting.
God Bless, Tony Kojis

John Linebaugh called today on his way back
from one of his seminars and said he would be building a special gun to be
donated and we will be building a special gun also. There will be a couple
more guns donated to be given away that night. If you can make it, by all
means try to do so. I hope to see you there.

October will be a busy month. A week or so
before that is our normal October HHC, October 2 thru 5th. We are still 4
months away from the hunt and we already have 10 or 12 hunters signed up.
Consider this my invitation to you to join me and the Misfits for this hunt.
It is always a good time and we have room for 50 hunters. For more info,
call me at 928-526-3313 or e-mail me.

I have had several folks call or stop by and
mention that they heard that the ammo shortage and powder shortage was over.
Well, maybe in some areas but not everywhere. We did get a few cans of
powder in this week and 3 bricks of 22 LR ammo. But it was powder and ammo
that was ordered last fall. I do think it is easing up a bit but it is going
to take a good while for all the back orders to be filled and for the
distributors to actually have some stock sitting on the shelf. I would think
that late this year or early next year would be the soonest that can happen.

A few of the back logged guns are beginning to
show up also. Not many but a few. Of course there is a huge supply of AR-15s
of all types, shapes and calibers. I showed my guys in the shop this past
week the newest firearms industry magazine that all the dealers get. On the
first 15 pages there were 11 new companies building AR-15s. I really feel
for these companies as if all they have to sell is AR-15s and AR uppers and
lowers they very well may be out of business by the end of the year. The
market is simply flooded with a glut of ARs. At last count there were almost
40 companies making either the full guns or the uppers, lowers and inner
parts for them. Guns that sold for $2000 this time last year are less than
$800 now, some a lot less. It is a buyers market for sure.

More and
more states are allowing hunting with suppressors or silencers if you
prefer. I believe 34 states are now on board with this. It only makes sense
as more and more open areas are getting filled up with houses and many donít
want to hear gunshots during the hunting seasons. The only downside I can
see is the ATF is now saying they are backlogged so far with applications
that it is taking 8 months to a year to OK them. That means many wonít be
finalized by this hunting season. But be that as it may more and more gun
manufacturers are building guns equipped with threaded barrels ready for
suppressors. In Europe it is not unusual to see rifles equipped with
suppressors as it is in other countries. When I was in New Zealand a few
years back we hunted Wallabies and Possums (not our Opossums, these are
totally different critters) at night with suppressed 22 LR rifles and 22
Magnum rifles. Driving thru large open fields with large spotlights we would
see eyes shining and by the color the PH knew what they were. One color was
Wallabies, while another color was possums. We filled up the bed of a Ford
Falcon (Mazda) pick up in a couple of hours. Here in Arizona our Governor is
so pro gun, she has signed numerous gun rights bills concerning owning and
shooting our firearms. Not only can we now put a handgun on in the open but
we can also put it under a shirt or jacket concealed and go pretty much
anywhere we like and no permit of any type is required. As far as hunting is
concerned, we can take an AR-15, put a 100 round drum in it, put a
suppressor on it and go hunting. Now that is a bit extreme but the point is
that it is legal.

Hog hunting is the rage these days and several
companies are taking advantage of it. A handful of them have special rifles
out as well as special shotguns intended for hog hunting. A few ammo makers
are making special ammo for the porkers. The newest is Fiocchi who have a
very special slug designed for hog hunting. It is a zinc plated steel
segmented 12 gauge expanding slug intended to penetrate deep and kill quick
and humanely. The steel projectile contains no lead so the addled headed
morons whining constantly about lead in our ammo canít complain about this
(but of course they still will).

Speaking of slugs, Brenneke slugs, which have
been known as the absolute best on the market for 40 years now has a 12
gauge slug they are marketing for law enforcement and home defense. It is
called the Tactical Home Defense 12 gauge slug. It has approximately 4 times
the stopping power of a 45 auto. And the fact that it wonít go for a mile if
the bad guy is missed makes it even better for home defense and anything it
hits is going down and staying down. plus if the bad guy is hiding behind a
car, the slug will simply go thru the car and zap the bad guy.

For over 3 years now I have been telling you
what a great gun for the money the Savage Axis is. It has taken gun of the
year, best seller and top 5 awards all over the country. Now there is a new
Axis rifle. It is the Axis 2. This ďnew and improvedĒ rifle has the
Accutrigger and comes with a Weaver 3X9 scope. It runs about $75 more than
the standard Axis. You can watch this one take all kinds of awards and be a
best seller like itís older brother.

Here is something really neat and something I
am going to check into. A company called Jotto Gear has a new mirror for
your home. It is a standard full length mirror, except that behind it
secured between the 2X4s in your wall is a full length safe. The mirror sits
flush with the wall so nothing shows at the edges. At the press of a hidden
biometric button the mirror slides to the side and there is a space
behind it that measures 60 inches by 20 inches and is deep enough to hold a
full size AR-15 or AK-47 or home defense shotgun plus a shelf for a handgun
or two. There is also a second model that holds 2 long guns and a handgun
plus a shelf or two for ammo, knives or whatever. It scans your fingerprint
and releases a latch to slide open the mirror to expose the hidden safe. It
is NRA approved also and the base model runs under a grand. You can see more
at
www.nrajottogear.com.

Are you familiar with the tiny little Davey
Crickett rifle for the little kids? Well, they now have turned the little
rifle into a little single shot bolt action pistol.It is called the Hunter
pistol and comes in 22 LR and 22 magnum. It sports a 10 inch barrel and
looks like the Ruger Charger pistol. Not real sure how well that is going to
go over as a little kid small enough for the Davey Crickett pistol may just
be a bit small for a pistol. I guess only time will tell.

Lots more
to tell you but I will get to that next time. Until then remember to take a
youngster or a lady shooting. They are our future.